More than a fighting chance

Belak's pugilistic skills have added punch down stretch.

In the first period of his fifth game as a Panther, it was finally Wade Belak's time.

He waited a week for his first fight, and one of the toughest fighters in the league, Pittsburgh's Georges Laraque, was trash talking, a willing participant.

Everything was aligning itself perfectly Thursday, much the same way Belak's knuckles would align with Laraque's jaw seconds later, launching a new era in Panthers hockey.

The enforcer was back.

And now, he had some teaching to do.

There were no sticks or pucks in the final minutes of the next day's practice, and there were no gloves. There were three men, six fists and lots of questions. Gregory Campbell and David Booth wanted to learn.

Belak showed them where to grab opponents' jerseys, where to place their head while throwing and taking punches, and like some pugilistic Kristi Yamaguchi, he showed them the intricate footwork involved. It brought Belak back to his early days in Toronto when Tie Domi, the Maple Leafs' fighting legend, imparted his wisdom to him.

"He's absolutely energized the team. We haven't seen anyone go at it like that for a couple of years now," Campbell said. "He adds an element to our team that no one else is going to bring.

"It doesn't matter if he's not going to get the points or things like that, something like [his fights] is just as big a boost for our team as it is to score a goal."

When Belak arrived after his Feb. 26 trade from Toronto, he was greeted by smiling Panther faces, who all told him how happy they were to have a tough guy again, something they had lacked for years. Belak smiled too, because the Maple Leafs hadn't let him unleash his enforcer style as of late. So the team with no enforcer picked up the man who has a personal Web site devoted to his fights. This was a match made in goon heaven.

"We've been working to try to acquire that somebody. ... Finally, we got the guy we wanted," Panthers coach Jacques Martin said. "Wade's a great guy, his teammates really respect him and like him. He brings a dimension and that was a big part of our game. It's nice to have that."

Less than a minute after Belak's first fight as a Panther, Booth scored the first goal of the game. Teammates told Belak they had never heard the home arena as loud as when Belak took on the 6-foot-3 Laraque.

But does toughness translate to wins? Belak points to last year's Anaheim Ducks team, which, coupled with its skill, fought its way to a Stanley Cup.

"Guys need to protect themselves. This is a more skilled team than a goon-squad team. We win games with our skill, when I can add a piece to that, it can help us down the stretch there," Belak said. "I think a lot of teams win by physical play, where you know that you can't take any liberties on their players or there would be a fight, and they also had the skill to back it up. We hopefully have the skill, and now we have some more toughness."

Campbell says the team's confidence has risen with Belak's arrival, and says an enforcer of his caliber causes opponents to respect the team significantly more.

"If they are going to run around and take liberties on some of our guys, there's Wade's intimidating presence and he's done it for a lot of years now," Campbell said. "Certainly, I speak for everyone on the team when I say I'm so happy that he's here."